For companies that want a systematic, well documented and high process-driven approach to solution development, we follow what we call the V process model which is a simple extension of the  Classic Life Cycle Model (or) Linear Sequential Model (or) Waterfall Method. The basic difference between the Waterfall Model and the V Process Model is that the latter contains intermediate steps for “Verification and Validation” during which time test cases are furnished for each step in the waterfall. However both models embrace a final testing period.

This model has the following activities.

1. System/Information Engineering and Modeling

The primary work begins by establishing the requirements for all system elements and then allocating some subset of these requirements to solution. This system view is essential when the solution must interface with other elements such as hardware, people and other resources. System is the basic and very critical requirement for the existence of solution in any entity. So if the system is not in place, the system should be engineered and put in place. In some cases, to extract the maximum output, the system should be re-engineered and spruced up. Once the ideal system is engineered or tuned, the development team studies the solution requirement for the system.

2. Solution Requirement Analysis

This process is also known as feasibility study. In this phase, the development team visits the customer and studies their system. They investigate the need for possible solution automation in the given system. By the end of the feasibility study, the team furnishes a document that holds the different specific recommendations for the candidate system. It also includes the personnel assignments, costs, project schedule, target dates etc…. The requirement gathering process is intensified and focussed specially on solution. To understand the nature of the program(s) to be built, the system engineer or “Analyst” must understand the information domain for the solution, as well as required function, behavior, performance and interfacing. The essential purpose of this phase is to find the need and to define the problem that needs to be solved . In the V Process Model, this phase has an additional “Test Case Generation” step and sign off of the requirements includes the sign off for the test cases.

3. System Analysis and Design

In this phase, the solution development process, the solution’s overall structure and its nuances are defined. In terms of the client/server technology, the number of tiers needed for the package architecture, the database design, the data structure design etc… are all defined in this phase. A solution development model is thus created. Analysis and Design are very crucial in the whole development cycle. Any glitch in the design phase could be very expensive to solve in the later stage of the solution development. Much care is taken during this phase. The logical system of the product is developed in this phase.

4. Code Generation

The design must be translated into a machine-readable form. The code generation step performs this task. If the design is performed in a detailed manner, code generation can be accomplished without much complication. With respect to the type of application, the right programming language is chosen.

5. Testing

Once the code is generated, the solution program testing begins. Different testing methodologies are available to unravel the bugs that were committed during the previous phases. Different testing tools and methodologies are already available. Some companies build their own testing tools that are tailor made for their own development operations

6. Maintenance